A flood of Xbox users are rushing to cancel their Game Pass subscriptions today, after Microsoft announced a substantial increase in prices for the service – including a 50% increase for its highest tier.
BlueSky user Wario64 reported that the official Xbox webpage for cancellations became “overloaded,” presumably due to the announcement causing a spike in traffic.
the website to cancel Xbox Game Pass subscriptions is overloaded
— Wario64 (@wario64.bsky.social) October 1, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Microsoft announced that Game Pass will now be available in the following three tiers and prices:
- Essential (formerly Core): $9.99 / £6.99 per month
- Premium (formerly Standard): $14.99 / £10.99 per month (was $11.99 / £9.99)
- Ultimate: $29.99 / £22.99 per month (was $19.99 / £14.99)
PC Game Pass, a separate subscription for PC-only games, will also see an increase in its monthly fee from $11.99 / £9.99 to $16.49 / £13.49.
The upgraded service will include more content, with Ultimate subscribers getting “access to over 75 day one releases a year” as well as “Fortnite Crew & Ubisoft+ Classics for the first time ever, enhanced Xbox Cloud Gaming streaming quality up to 1440p, Rewards with Xbox, and more.”
More details are included in the official infographic below.
For comparison’s sake, Nintendo Switch Online, while focused more on providing retro content than new releases, offers access to over 190 games from $1.66 / £1.50 per month. With the Expansion Pack subscription, there are over 300 games from $4.16 / £2.92 per month.
More about Nintendo Switch Online
Nintendo Switch Online now features a CRT filter and button mapping for SNES games
Nintendo states Wind Waker HD could still come to Switch 2 despite being on Nintendo Switch Online
Virtual Boy returns as a Switch accessory, games coming to Nintendo Switch Online in February 2026
Leave a Comment
Written by Reece Heather
A lifelong Nintendo fan and a longtime editor at Zelda Universe, Reece will forever be grateful that he somehow dodged the Naughty List of Christmas 1998, when Santa delivered the life-changing gift of a Nintendo 64 with Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie, and Mario Kart 64. When he's not playing games, Reece is usually reading Punisher comics, delving helplessly into the weirdest depths of anime and manga, or spending time with his cocker spaniel Gracie -- the goodest girl ever!
